Can we talk about pulling design inspo from old print ads compared to today's social media feeds?

Print ads had a lasting impact, but online feeds offer endless new ideas fast.

3 comments

3 Comments

Short take: Crafted vs. crowded. Longer bit: Old ads had to sell an idea in one static image, which forced a kind of clever clarity you don't see as much. The endless scroll now is more about a fast mood or vibe that disappears in seconds. There's a discipline to the old stuff that's really useful to study, even if the references are dated. It's just a totally different game trying to stop a scroll versus holding a page.

rivera.cole1mo ago

That 1959 VW "Think Small" ad had one job, sell a weird looking car with one image and a headline. @wright.eva is right about that forced clarity. Now you're fighting a thousand things that look just as slick flying past someone's thumb. The old discipline is studying how to make one point stick, but you have to do it in half a second before they swipe. It's like the difference between a perfect billboard and trying to paint that same message on a speeding car.

perry.margaret1mo ago

Hey @wright.eva, do you think that old ad discipline could work in today's scroll culture? Or is the need for instant vibe just too strong?